


now and then

by fortunehasgivenup



Series: prompt fills [25]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Former Babysitter, Mistaken Identity, Non-Linear Narrative, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:41:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24592459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortunehasgivenup/pseuds/fortunehasgivenup
Summary: Now: Beth's enjoying herself at Raquel's engagement party until she hears what the oldest Romero sibling goes by now.Four months ago: At a bar to celebrate her divorce, Beth hooks with a guy named Rio.Way back when: Beth's a babysitter extraordinaire, even if Chris Romero keeps insisting that he and his younger sisters don't need a babysitter.
Relationships: Beth Boland/Rio
Series: prompt fills [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608919
Comments: 30
Kudos: 426





	now and then

**Author's Note:**

> bathroombreaks said:  
> prompt time (again). obviously you can always not fulfill prompts but just wanna say if you're not comfy with it, just fully ignore me, it's fine. actual prompt: beth used to babysit the kids in the neighborhood when she was in high school. one of them was rio. when she moved away for college/to marry dean/whatever, they lost touch for obvious reasons. flashforward, in their late 30s/early 40s they meet at a bar after beth's divorce and have a one night stand, not recognising each other, only to go to like rio's older sister's wedding anniversary party or something like that and realise exactly who the other is. and it's all very messy but cute
> 
> I'm never entirely sure what to warn for, but I prefer to err on the side of caution, so fyi there is a joke about Rio having jerked off to Beth when they were both underage.

**Now**

Beth hugs Raquel, squeezing her tight.

“I can’t believe you’re getting married,” she admits. “Feels like just yesterday I was coming over to your house to babysit you.”

Raquel laughs. “It’s been years since that happened,” she says, “and I know for a fact that I was the easy one to deal with.”

Beth isn’t quite so sure that she’d describe it like that, but Raquel’s fiancé appears and sets a hand on Raquel’s back.

“Your brother is here,” she says.

Raquel lights up. She’d always looked up to Chris and even though Beth hasn’t seen him in ages, she’s heard that he’s doing pretty well for himself.

“When’s the last time you saw Chris?” Raquel asks Beth.

She thinks about it. “Gosh, he would have been seventeen at the oldest. Why, has little Chris grown up?”

“I go by Rio now,” a voice informs her.

Beth’s eyes widen and she turns her head. She recognizes the voice, the name, and the tattoo on his neck, but when she meets his gaze, Beth knows without a doubt that this is _him_.

————————

**Four months earlier**

“To your divorce,” the handsome guy sitting next to her at the bar says, lifting his glass.

“To my freedom,” Beth toasts, knocking their glasses together and then pouring the tequila down her throat. He does the same and Beth can’t stop looking at the long line of his neck, adorned as it is with a tattoo. It’s of a bird, but she can’t tell what kind for the life of her.

Their glasses thump back on the bar top and Beth laughs.

“So, Rio,” she says, propping her chin on her fist, “what are you doing in a place like this along on a Wednesday night?”

He chuckles. “Thinking ‘bout investing in it.”

“Oh?” She’s surprised, but only a little. “And the verdict?”

“Needs a shit ton of work,” he tells her. Beth doesn’t disagree with that assessment. “Not sure if it’s work I feel like doing right now.”

She hums. “That’s fair. You invest in a lot of bars?”

“A couple. Restaurants too.” He looks pleased with himself. 

Beth cocks her head. “Well, look at you,” she teases him.

“I’d rather look at you.”

She has to bury her face in her arm to stop her laughter from drawing attention from the entire bar. “I’m sorry,” she says when she sobers, “I shouldn’t have laughed. It was very smooth.”

He’s grinning at her though, doesn’t seem to be angry. “Not my best work,” he admits.

“You enjoying looking at me?” Beth asks, biting her lip.

Rio’s eyes fall down to her mouth and he mirrors her action, slowly releasing his lip a beat after she does. “Think I’d like to see a whole lot more of you,” he replies.

“That could be arranged,” Beth says. “Not here, obviously.”

“Don’t wanna take a bathroom break?” he asks.

Beth makes a face.

“Yeah, that’s fair. I live close.”

Close, it turns out, is a block away.

“I’m in the middle of moving in though,” he tells her as they climb the stairs. “Basically got my bed, my couch, and a fucking shower curtain.”

Beth laughs, delighted by the slight sheepishness he exhibits.

“You worried I’m going to judge your interior decorating choices?”

He stops at a door. “Something like that.”

—————————

**Way back when**

“I’m not a baby,” Chris insists and Beth sighs. She’s already gotten his little sisters to bed, but being the oldest - even if he’s not quite old enough to babysit them himself - means that he’s convinced he’s not subject to Beth’s authority.

“Chris,” Beth says, “your mom said nine. It’s nine fifteen.”

“And it’s a weekend,” he tells her.

“Chris,” she sighs.

“Come on, another half an hour, please.”

She looks at him. “Fine, but you’re in bed in half an hour.”

“Deal.”

He goes to bed, or at least to his room, half an hour later and Beth reads with the TV on low volume so that the house won’t feel too quiet.

The Romeros come home around 11.

“Thank you dear,” Mrs. Romero tells her, passing her cash for the night. “Mario will take you home. Oh! I almost forgot!” She goes to the kitchen and grabs one of the two vases full of flowers and brings it to her.

Beth takes it, confused.

“I was picking flowers earlier,” Mrs. Romero explains. “Chris suggested that you might like some to take home with you as well, so I made a second bouquet for you. We’ll see you in two weeks and you can bring the vase back.”

“Sounds good,” Beth says, smiling at the flowers.

——————————

**Four months ago**

Beth works her hips back and forth, grinding herself on Rio’s cock as he looks up at her from where his head had fallen onto the back of his couch.

“Yeah,” he says, voice gravelly, “take it.”

She’d never thought that she would be into a guy talking during sex like this, but he’s kept it up ever since he slid his hand up her thighs.

“Feel good?”

Beth nods.

“Your ex the last one to fuck you?” he asks.

“Yeah,” she gasps.

He chuckles, hand coming up to grip the hair on the back of her head. “He make you feel good?”

She shakes her head and Rio tuts.

“Can’t have that,” he murmurs, pulling her head back and mouthing his way down to her nipple.

—————————————

**Now**

Rio - and when the hell had little Chris started going by the name Rio - throws back his shot and grins at Beth.

“Pretty sure I used to beat off to you,” he drawls, making Beth choke on her bourbon.

She coughs into a napkin, trying to regain her breath. “What?” she croaks.

His eyes flick down to her chest, then back to her face. “That summer you got that white bathing suit.”

Beth is planning how to disappear from the face of the earth.

“You were a kid!” she hisses.

Rio laughs. “You know how puberty works, right?”

She groans, covering her face with her hands.

“Relax,” he tells her, reaching over to pat her back. “We’re grown-ups now. A few years difference doesn’t seem so much anymore.”

It doesn’t, but it’s just so…weird, connecting this man - all harsh lines and edges - to the cheerful boy she’d known. She wonders if he’s having the same problem connecting her to the old version.

“Go ahead, ask whatever’s going on in that head of yours,” Rio says, downing a shot. 

“Did you know it was me?” 

“Not at first,” he admits. “Not ’til I saw your necklace and read the names, but you were already asleep.”

Beth’s hand falls to the chain. It looks like a simple gold bar, but it’s engraved on the one side, the one that she wears against her skin, with Ruby and Annie’s names. 

“Didn’t think it was too likely to be all that many stacked redheads named Elizabeth floating around that know a Ruby and an Annie well enough to wear something like that around.” He shrugs. “Was gonna bring it up in the morning.”

—————————

**Way back when**

“Chris is in a mood,” Mrs. Romero says.

Beth nods. “He’s ok?”

“He’s offended that you’re here, even if he isn’t old enough to keep his sisters alive for five hours. I mean, I’m sure he could, but,” the woman winces. “He likes his video games a little too much.”

Beth laughs. “No problem. Have fun!”

She’s just turning away from the front door when she finds that Chris has materialized from wherever he was hiding, standing in the hall with his arms crossed. Hell, he’s almost as tall as her now. He’s shot up like a weed over the past year.

“I’m not in a mood,” he snaps.

“Uh huh,” she says.

He looks around. “You didn’t bring your sister, did you?”

Beth has to hide her laughter. Annie had, over the summer, developed an attachment to Chris. 

“No,” Beth replies, “but Ruby’s coming over to work on some homework.”

He nods. “Ruby’s okay.”

“I’ll let her know that you think so, Chris,” Beth teases as she walks by him to go into the kitchen, reaching up to ruffle his short hair.

He ducks out of her way though and scowls as he pats it to make sure that it’s still in place.

—————————

**Four months ago**

Beth couldn’t even remember the last time that she’d come more than once, but as Rio pulled out and moved down her body to suck on her clit, she became pretty sure it was about to happen again.

She grunts as he takes it between his lips, a sound that has her momentarily embarrassed before he pushes his tongue inside of her and she forget all self-consciousness.

“Ah!” she cries out, grabbing the sheet. And fuck, it had been hot when he picked her up like her weight was negligible and carried her over to the bed. 

“You taste good,” he says in between licks.

—————————

**Now**

“Why’d you run off?” Rio asks, looking at Beth out of the corner of his eye.

Beth squirms. “It was a one night stand,” she reminds him.

“Maybe,” he says with a shrug, “but you didn’t give me a chance to ask if you wanted more.”

She looks over at him in surprise. “What?”

“I was gonna make you breakfast,” he informs her, turning in his seat. “And I make a mean scrambled egg.”

“Do you now?” Beth leans her elbow on the bar and stares him down.

“My son says so.”

She blinks, then smiles at the image of him and a little boy who looks like the one she used to babysit standing side by side at a kitchen counter.

“Shit,” he mutters, “what is it with women making that face when they find out that I have a kid?”

“What face?” Beth protests, well aware that she was definitely making some kind of face that must have conveyed how adorable the mental image of the two of them was.

Rio just laughs.

————————

**Way back when**

“You know Chris,” Mrs. Romero says with an eye roll. “He’s going out with his friends and he’ll be staying over there, so you don’t need to worry about him. Just Raquel and Olivia.”

Beth smiles. “I don’t need to worry much about either of them.”

“Because they behave better for you,” Mr. Romero tells her, pulling on his jacket. “You can call us at the Ferguson’s house, we left the number by the phone.”

“Alright,” Beth says. “Enjoy bridge!”

“Bridge is code for drinking with their friends,” Chris says as he comes downstairs. His voice has gotten a fraction deeper since the last time she saw him. 

“Doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t enjoy themselves,” Beth scolds. He’s taller than her now. “You’re heading off with friends?” 

Chris nods. “Should be here any -“

The doorbell rings and he steps around her to open the door. “Hey man, gimme a second.”

Beth has to bite back laughter at the way that his voice deepens as he addresses his friend. She recognizes him from around the neighbourhood, but can’t remember his name. Mike? She’s pretty sure he’s older than Rio.

He leans against the doorway and looks her up and down. “Who’s this?” he asks.

“She’s babysitting Raquel and Livi,” Rio says, jamming his feet into sneakers.

“Beth,” she introduces herself.

Maybe-Mike laughs. “You got this at home and you’re coming out with us? I thought you were smart.” 

Beth jerks her head back and she scowls at the guy, but Chris is already nudging her aside so he can leave.

“Bye,” he mumbles, shoving the guy out of the way and pulling the door shut behind him.

————————————

**Now**

“Speaking of,” Rio says, holding out his arm in time for a little boy to smash into his side, “this is Marcus.”

The little boy peels away slightly so he can look up at her with a smile that is so much like the one Rio always had that Beth can’t even take it.

“Pop, this is Elizabeth.”

“Hi,” he says, smiling at Beth.

“Hi,” Beth replies. “I used to babysit your dad.”

Marcus looks shocked. “My dad used to have a babysitter?”

Rio groans. “Now you’ve done it,” he mumbles.

“Yup,” Beth tells Marcus. “He never went to bed when he was supposed to.”

“Come on!” Rio protests. “Don’t sell me out like that!”

——————————————

**Four months ago**

Rio keeps his face buried in her neck as he pulls out. They both moan and he opens his mouth to press it against Beth’s skin.

He rolls away to deal with the condom. Beth’s legs are feeling a little too jelly-like for her to stand yet or she’d go to the bathroom. All she can do is pant unevenly at the high ceilings of his loft.

“You good?” he asks when he comes back, sliding his hand over her belly.

Beth has to push his hand away when he goes to push it between her legs. “No more,” she groans.

Rio laughs. “Don’t worry, we’ll work on your stamina. I’ll give you a couple minutes to recover.”

——————————————

**Now**

“I was thinking I’d head home soon,” Rio says, maintaining eye contact with Beth, his fingertips brushing across the insides of her wrist.

Beth nods. “Yeah, the party’s winding down.”

He laughs, shakes his head. “Not what I’m talking about, Elizabeth.”

“No?” She thinks she might manage to hide how nervous she feels under his full attention, but she’s not sure. “What about Marcus?”

“My mom’s stealing him for the night,” he says. “You didn’t hear her bragging about it earlier?”

Thinking back, Beth does remember Mrs. Romero saying something about her grandson staying over tonight.

“You remember where I live?” he asks.

Beth nods.

“Meet you there in twenty?”

——————————————

**Four months ago**

Rio’s fingers play with her necklace, fiddling with it until she puts her hand over his. “Don’t break it,” she scolds him.

He doesn’t look chastened, just grins at her and finally lets go. “You recovered?”

Beth peers down between them. “Doesn’t look like you have,” she says.

“Mmm,” he hums, voice soft and full of promise, “thing is, for what I’m planning, I don’t need to be.”

Before she can reply, he kisses her. By the time he pulls his lips away to kiss her chin, then her neck, then down, she’s forgotten what she was going to say. He pays attention to her necklace, kissing the chain and the charm until she laughs.

————————————————

**Now**

“Oh fuck,” Beth wails as Rio yanks her back by her hips, thrusting into her again and again. 

She’s clawing at the sheets, can’t seem to get a grip on them.

Rio chuckles. “Just gotta take it, huh?”

Beth whimpers, finally catching hold of the fabric and clutching it in a tight fist. She does just have to take it and it feels so good that she thinks she’s going to cry.

“When’s the last time you took a cock, Elizabeth? Was it me?”

Beth nods.

“I wreck you for everybody else?” he asks. 

He might be teasing, but Beth can’t stand the idea that he might actually think that, so she shakes her head and gathers herself enough to reply, “More like I remembered how needy men are.”

He pushes all the way into her and stays there, bearing down on her until she’s pinned in place.

“That so,” he says. 

Beth gasps as he reaches around to press up against her clit.

“Uh huh,” she says. “Always wanting their egos stroked. Wanting to hear how good they are.”

“Am I good, Elizabeth?”

She moans.

“Am I?” he asks. “C’mon, tell me about how great I am.”

When Beth tugs on the sheet, it comes free from the mattress and Rio laughs. She’s close.

But before she can get the rest of the way there, Rio pulls out and takes his hand away. This moan is much more pitiful.

“Gonna need to hear it,” Rio says, moving until he’s lying on his back next to her. Beth glances down his body to see his cock, still wet from her.

Beth glares at him and shifts herself so she can free up a hand to touch herself with, but Rio snatches it up before Beth can so much as brush a fingertip over her clit.

“Nah, nah, nah,” he says, “you don’t get to tap out.”

She groans, hips moving in a useless hunt for friction. Hell, she could probably ride his thigh and get off in seconds, but the longer he holds her hand in place, the farther away her orgasm gets until she can feel it fading into a dull ember and she whimpers.

“You ready to beg?” Rio asks, moving her onto her back and rolling onto his side. “No?” he says when she shakes her head. “Don’t wanna tell me how great I am, how good my cock was making you feel,” as he speaks, he starts rubbing his fingers over the entrance of her cunt, occasionally parting her folds to actually dip a fingertip in.

“Don’t think I can perform,” he teases, “you don’t gimme what I need. I’m so needy, right?”

Beth glares at him, clenching around nothing.

“Not like this,” he says, slapping her cunt lightly, then fucks her harshly with two fingers. Almost instantly, Beth’s right back on that edge. “Your cunt’s not needy at all.”

She gasps, the sound distorting a little as he rubs against her g spot.

He yanks his fingers out and Beth sobs.

“No,” she moans, trying to touch herself even though he does exactly the same as last time and grabs them before she get herself off. “Please,” she says, clenching and rolling her hips in hope of…something.

“Close,” he says, kissing her shoulder, “but I’ll need you to do better.”

“Please let me come,” she says, blinking her eyes open. 

“I’m the only one that can make you come,” Rio says.

Beth nods. “The only one. Nobody else.”

“Not even you,” he says, settling in between her open thighs and guiding the head of his cock back inside of her.

“Not as good,” she hedges. She can definitely get herself off.

Rio pulls all the way back out.

“Not even me,” she groans. She gets his cock back for that.

Her nails are digging into the skin of Rio’s hand as it holds hers in place. She has to make herself stop before she breaks the skin. 

“Think I need to show you how good I can be,” Rio tells her, guiding her hands up over her head. He circles her wrists with one of his much, much bigger hands and grins, squeezing lightly.

Beth squeezes tighter around him in response and his hips stutter.

“Keep ‘em here,” he says. He keeps his fingers shackling her hands in place, but it’s not a solid grip. Beth could break it if she wanted. But she doesn’t want that. 

So she nods and Rio leans down to kiss her softly.

“Good,” he says against her lips before pulling away a little so that he can get a good rhythm going.

Almost right away, Beth’s hovering at the edge again and this time, Rio doesn’t pull out or stop moving. Instead, he fucks her through her orgasm, murmuring things like, “That’s it, Elizabeth,” and “Louder, say it louder.”

After that, she’s too sensitive. She pushes him away slightly. “Too much,” she says and he gentles. “Finish on my tits.”

Rio groans, thrusts twice more and comes. He nearly collapses on top of her when he’s done. Beth wraps her arms around his shoulders and pats his back as he groans.

“So that does it for you, huh?” Beth says after a few minutes of silence.

“You have no fucking idea,” Rio mumbles.

—————————————————

**Four months ago**

Beth is very glad that she wore a dress and slip-on shoes because it means she can throw it on quickly and quietly as Rio snores softly in the bed. She had slept for a while, but it was strange, being in someone else’s bed. Well, someone other than Annie’s or Ruby’s or one of her kid’s.

He stirs, making Beth freeze, zipper halfway up her back.

Right, she’ll finish that up outside when there’s no risk of waking him up.

She tiptoes to the door, grabbing her shoes, and slips out.

It’s not quite dawn yet when Beth collapses into her own bed, but it’s close. She’d showered, finding red patches from Rio’s mouth and facial hair. She’d be feeling him for days.

Then again, it didn’t seem likely that her first post-divorce one night stand was going to be something to forget anyways. She’s glad it’s memorable for all the right reasons, but falls asleep missing the feeling of being held.

—————————————————

**Now**

“Nuh uh,” Rio grumbles, tightening his arms around Beth.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” she tells him.

He glares at her, very grumpy in the early morning. “You gonna go running off again?”

She snorts. “No,” she says. “Promise.”

He holds up a hand, pinky finger out. Beth giggles, but hooks her own pinky with his. “Pinky swear,” she tells him. “Besides, you said you make a mean scrambled egg. I’m curious to see if you were telling the truth.”

He lets go of her, but keeps his hand on her the whole time until she’s out of his reach.

“You think I’d lie to you?” He makes a show of being hurt. “That’s cold, Elizabeth. After all we’ve shared together?”

She sticks her tongue out at him before grabbing his t-shirt from the ground and pulling it on. She looks over her shoulder at him when he groans and sees him eyeing her with interest.

“Hurry back,” he says, pushing the sheets down and taking himself in his hand. “You said I could come on your tits.”

Beth shivers at how husky his voice gets and rushes to the bathroom.

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd, so all mistakes are mine. If there's anything that you think should be warned for, please let me know. I hope that you and your loved ones are all safe and healthy out there.


End file.
